In current hard disk drives (HDD), data is written in concentric circular tracks by a magnetic recording head which is positioned above a spinning disk. The magnetic recording head consists of a write head element which is used during writing, and a read head element which is used during reading. The position of the magnetic recording head above the disk is precisely controlled by a hard disk drive controller as required to execute a read or a write.
The time it takes for the head to be positioned to execute the desired read or write may be thought of as a combination of a “seek time” (the time it takes the actuator arm to move the head over the right track) and a rotational latency time (the time it takes the desired sector of the track to rotate to a position underneath the head). It is desirable to minimize these times to speed up data transfer to and from the HDD. It will readily be appreciated that the time it takes a HDD to complete a data transfer event is an important performance metric that can be used to compare one HDD to other HDDs.
The problem to which the present invention is directed is in providing a reliable generic metric of HDD performance. Currently, drive manufacturers advertise various HDD performance times that are derived using proprietary and differing algorithms, meaning that comparisons between two HDDs cannot be reliably made. Having recognized this drawback, the solution herein is provided.